Many molecules can exist as stable right-handed or left-handed enantiomers, which can be referred as R- and S-enantiomers. Although such molecules can have substantially identical physical and chemical properties in a symmetric environment, the molecules can have quite different chemical properties when interacting with other chiral molecules. This can be of great importance in biological systems, as the physiological effect of drugs and other biologically active molecules can vary significantly between enantiomers. There is, therefore, considerable interest in a general, sensitive technique for enantiomer-specific chemical detection.
It is against this background that a need arose to develop the embodiments described herein.